Skullcandy – Navigators

The lovely people over at Skullcandy sent us some headphones to review and I have to say I was dubious at first. The only ‘real’ pair of headphones that I own are some white things called Urbanears that give me a headache every time I put them on. I bought them because you can jack in another pair of headphones and both listen to the same thing. Sounds great. Isn’t. And as my sleeping habits are diametrically opposed to those of my better half, I have wear these monsters every night- much to the discomfort of my head (don’t buy them).

Usually I’m a ‘ear bud’ kind of guy, even though every time I say those words out loud I can’t help but think of that ridiculous Disney movie franchise with the golden retriever that plays a variety of sports from the 90’s. But I wear the little things that come with your iPhone because they’re compact, light and sort of comfortable. Sure the sound that comes out of them sucks but that’s the price you pay for comfort. but I suppose I never really knew what a comfortable pair of headphones was until now.

Welcome to Skullcandy Navigator.

Packaging wise, opening the box to my new Navigators was like unpacking an Apple product. Clean, white, and with that factory smell you associate with opening up a Star Wars toy from your youth (or maybe that was just me). Forget the fact that the company’s logo is a Skull for a moment and reflect on the video above. The aesthetic of these headphones is good. Period.

With small details here and there the main thing you should know about these things is that they’re super cushiony – like wearing pillows on your ears.

The lead is detachable and contains a volume control and microphone – anything less and they’d just be another pair of headphones. But now I can wear them to do my Google hangouts at 2am with people in the States and not get a headache. So another plus.

The sound

Its kind of impossible to describe how good the sound is so I’m just going to compare them with a pair of Bose headphones that I had once (okay, they weren’t mine) but the sound is akin to that. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about – clear bass, plenty of treble and no distortion then you’re missing out.

Navigators for travel

I travel a lot – back and forth through London everyday so lugging around a pair of headphones sucks. The Skullcandy team looks like a bunch of skaters and they apparently know this – which is why they designed these things to fold up to the size of your fist and fit in a nice little sheen travel bag they include with every set. Very nice touch guys.

They’re durable enough that I don’t have to worry about sitting on them and light enough that they’re not going to weigh me down when I’m jumping through the closing doors of the tube.